The first came in the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace as Dani Ayala nodded in from a Stewart Downing corner on the left.

The second was the opener in the 3-1 defeat at Everton when Alvaro Negredo bundled home the ball and the keeper home fifties fashion from a George Friend cross.

The third came in the late fight-back in a 2-1 reverse to Spurs when Ben Gibson bravely rammed home a Downing free-kick.

The fourth was in the 1-1 draw at West Ham, Cristhian Stuani finishing from a Viktor Fischer corner on the left.

And the fifth was de Roon’s sweet-spot sizzler from a pin-point whipped left flank cross from Friend.

Throw in David Nugent’s early glancing header in the League Cup defeat at Fulham (from a Fabio cross on the left, naturally) and it's starting to be a very strong theme.

Plus Negredo’s opening day goal against Stoke came after Gaston Ramirez nodded down and Downing’s stabbed effort against Bournemouth followed Negredo heading down a Traore ball. From the right shock!

Alvardo Negredo celebrating against Stoke City

It is starting to look as if Boro are one trick ponies... although, if that trick is working well and banking points, don’t knock it.

Boro are joint third in the Premier League table for headed goals alongside Liverpool.

Palace are top with eight and West Ham are second with six - five of them scored by Michael Antonio - while Arsenal and Everton are just behind on four.

In proportional terms Boro are joint second in the list. The Hammer headers lead the way with six out of their 11 goals being nodded home, a hefty 66%.

Boro are on 50% with five from 10 alongside Palace with eight of 16 scored with headers.

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Liverpool’s five come from a blistering 30 goals and Arsenal’s four from 25 so are a relatively rare beast.

Boro don’t feel like a long ball team and their approach is certainly not out of the Tony Pulis template but having set-plays and crosses in your armoury can be effective.

According to the WhoScored? stats website Boro are putting in an average of 19 crosses per game so that is potentially a potent weapon if it can be refined.

Of course, the other side of the coin is that it throws into sharp relief the lack of success from other areas.

Apart from headers Boro only seem to score worldies: Stuani won the Premier League goal of the month for August after his Exocet at Sunderland (although his other goal in that game was arguably better) and then Ramirez took the Match of the Day gong for November with his solo sizzler against Bournemouth.

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Playing well against the big boys is fine - but will a poor return from our rivals cost us?

Watching the woeful Watford defence implode against Liverpool in a bruising 6-1 shoeing was a stark reminder of just how awful they were at the Riverside last month.

Boro may not have attacked with the fluidity of Liverpool but nevertheless, Watford’s Keystone Kops five man unit played like strangers.

They were disorganised, failed to hold a line, were inept at marking, hopeless in the air, got in each other’s way and every time Boro put the ball in the box it was total chaos.

Boro struggled to fashion a clear cut chance but it seemed certain Watford would either concede a penalty or an own goal in the worst 45 minutes by a visiting side for a long time. I still can’t believe that Boro didn’t score.

As we know, in the second half Watford woke up and ironically punished a mistake by Boro at the back and stole a 1-0 win. Very disappointing.

That single result has had a massive impact on a tightly packed top flight table still in flux.

Had Boro won that game - and hypothetically all the other results remained the same - then the extra three points would have lifted them up to ninth place with 14 points in the bag.

And being three points lighter would have sucked Watford back down to the depths of 16th.

How the Premier League table would have looked if Boro had beaten Watford

That is the potential impact of one goal in a cut-throat touch-tight mid-table pack.

Even more dramatically, had Boro won at West Brom back in August then Boro would have been in the top half and the Baggies would be dangling above the drop spots on goal difference alone.

The match was like the Phoney War phase on the Western Front with both sides happy to sit tight in tactical trenches for the first hour with only the occasional mortar being lobbed forward.

There was some late flailing but to no great effect and a comatose nation was glad for the whistle.

But had Boro snatched just one goal there they would again be up in ninth with 14 points and Albion would be languishing level with third placed Hull.

How the table would have looked had Boro beaten West Brom

Ditto the opening day clash with Stoke. Boro had a string of chances to wrap it up before the break but failed to take them and got pegged back to draw 1-1.

Had one of the efforts that hit the woodwork gone in - and all the other results panned out the same - Boro would be 11th and the Potters 15th.

How the table would have looked had Boro beaten Stoke

You could do similar counter-factual calculations for the games against Crystal Palace, where Boro may have got a leveller and West Ham where a slip at the back allowed Payet to peg them back with a wonder strike.

Of course it is all ‘ifs and buts’ and gender-bender uncles and aunts. And equally, had Arsenal or Manchester City scored in those torrid opening spells then Boro could well be two points worse off and bogged down in the bottom three.

But it illustrates a key point: it will be the head-to-head results against direct rivals that will determine the outcome of the season.

Boro will have targeted 40 points this season, although 38 has generally been enough for survival over the past five or six years.

That means 10 wins and 10 draws or nine wins and 11 or 12 draws or some such sliding permutation - and the bulk of those will have to come from teams in the bottom half.

The draws at the Emirates and Etihad were bonus ball games and sparked great celebration but taking the same points from Palace and Watford would have been a double divided and pegged them back too.

We all know that in what could be a decisive December that while Liverpool and Manchester United are the glamour games, it is the games with Hull and Swansea that are the really important ones.

Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka (Image: Vincent Cole)

And Boro must start to win those strategic six-pointers.

So far the record has been solid but not spectacular. Boro have beaten Sunderland and Bournemouth. They have drawn with Stoke, West Brom and West Ham.

That has given them nine points from seven games which is probably just ahead of the safety mark on the points curve but it feels a bit too close for comfort.

After Chelsea - another game where any points would be a bonus - Boro have Leicester, Hull and Southampton in quick succession.

A good return from that run - two wins? One win and two draws? - would make those stats look far healthier but we can’t afford to lose too many more in the bottom third mini-league.

On the plus side, Boro have found their feet in the Premier League now, look to have returned to their miserly ways at the back and have added an attacking outlet in Adama Traore plus have increased belief so look better equipped.